Louis Farrakhan Speaks On Gun Violence In The Black Community

“They are building prisons, and who are they for? Not for the white man,” he told an almost entirely black crowd at the Van Dyke Houses in Brownsville, Brooklyn. “Nobody cares about you. You are the product of your former slave masters. You are not as bad as you are acting. You ain’t manufacturing no guns, but you got some,” the minister said in a sermonic speech dubbed, “Stop the Killing. Your people are being herded into a life-style — that is going to jail.”

Well aware of such violence that victimizes or is perpetrated by blacks, or often times both, Farrakhan’s audience of some 200 people regularly broke into loud cheers. Farrakhan’s message that blacks must look at themselves to stanch urban violence echoed that of NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who irritated some leaders and elected officials in the black community this summer when he called on black voices to speak out forcefully gun violence.

“There should be outcry that 96% of the shooting victims in this city are black or Latino,” Kelly said in July. “Most of them are young men. When you look at it, at the end of the day, you sense there’s reasons as to why people are being killed. There should be a huge outcry, but there isn’t.” Farrakhan’s sense of outrage over the consistent violence within the black community was palpable, and he said he was not done with his preaching.

Chicago is getting out of control. According to Hip-HopWired.com The City of Chicago is still in the throes of a violent summer that has reached epic proportions, as six people were shot in a 15-minute time span, Monday (July 23). The two separate incidents left two people wounded in the Marquette Parkneighborhood, and four others in Merrill Park.

Police reported that the Merill Park victims were standing in the park at approximately 10:18 p.m., when a minimum of two shooters –one holding a rifle, and the other a handgun—opened fire. Among those hit was 17-year-old Alixi Johnson who sustained a bullet wound to the neck. He was transported to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, and was declared dead at 11:01 a.m.

According to Johnson’s family, the teen was a victim of a random attack. “He was a friendly guy,” said his grandmother, Forestine Randall. “He would go out of his way, above and beyond, to help someone. He wasn’t no bad kid.”

Like many, Randall is fed up with the senseless violence. “I just wish that these kids would understand what they’re doing and stop all this gangbanging, and shooting, and taking innocent people’s lives.”

Another victim was a 34-year-old woman shot in the abdomen, and taken to John H. Stoger Hospital where she has been declared in “stable” condition. Two others, a 21-year-old man, and a 30-year-old woman were each shot in the leg, and hospitalized.

While the city as a whole continues to be plagued by gun violence, Johnson’s death was the first fatality reported in his particular neighborhood in almost a year. Police recovered 50 bullet casings from the scene but have yet to apprehend any suspects.

Just 15-minutes earlier, a 13-year-old-boy and a 18-year-old man were both shot standing on a street corner. The boy, who was shot in the left thigh, was also taken to Christ Medical Center and told police that he was just standing around when he heard gunshots and felt pain. Meanwhile, the man was driven to Holy Cross Hospital, and was treated for a gunshot wound to the back and foot.

In total, at least 13 people were wounded in shootings around the city, starting at 8 p.m. Monday night.

Chicago continues to be crippled by gun violence. An earlier report revealed that murders in the city are up 38 percent from last year.

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